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Wednesday, December 25, 2013

Belgium: Christmas Israel bashing from Nazareth to Bethelehm

In honor of Christmas, Belgian newspaper Het Belang van Limburg sent reporter Roel Damiaans and photographer Tom Palmaers 'in the footsteps of Joseph and Mary', from Nazareth to Bethlehem.

Despite the fact that Nazareth is an Israeli town and despite the fact that Joseph and Mary were Jewish, Damiaans and Palmaers did not manage to meet even one Israeli or Jew. The Jewish angle of their trip to the Jewish homeland: Their first report from Nazareth starts off with "Hava Nagila".

They did however meet many Palestinians who told of their suffering under Israeli rule (just like Joseph and Mary, so many years ago). They also met with Palestina Solidariteit, a Flemish pro-Palestine group.

Jospeh and Mary made their way on a donkey, so Damiaans and Palmaers interviewed a family whose donkey suffers from Israeli army tear-gas attacks. No mention at all of why the Israeli army would attack a defenseless donkey, and his poor owners.

defenseless donkey, attacked by Israelis

Of course, no visit to Bethlehem is complete without mentioning the Security Wall. Headlined "Art on an Ugly Wall", Damiaans and Palmaers say as follows in their post on the topic: "For years Israel has been building the Separation Wall. By far the ugliest edifice we've ever seen. A trap to control people like animals, a concrete mesh around the open-air prison that is Palestine."

They do not show us their own visit of the wall. Instead they posted a clip of Banksy art.